Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum10 (Desktop and general editing software question)

[Stephen Mann]

Most of the “stuff” is marketing BS. Just because HP doesn’t bother to list the same “stuff” in their specs doesn’t mean they don’t have it also.

Most of the “stuff” you will never use or miss if it’s not there.

Follow rule number one – get the fastest processor that you can afford.
You can add larger hard drives any time.
You can add RAM any time.
You can upgrade your Power Supply (PSU) any time.

If I had a $1450 budget, I would be getting an i7-950 processor, a solid-state HDD for my system drive (usually drive C), and a 2GB drive for my documents. 8GB or RAM, a dual-head nVidia GPU and two 24-inch displays. I would want the motherboard to have at least two empty PCI-Express x1 slots and no less than one IDE slot for legacy hardware (though IDE slots are getting rare). Most MB’s come with USB2.0 and a couple of 3.0 ports. Some also have eSATA ports on the back. Nice to have but not essential. Firewire would be good. On-board Gigabit networking is nice but most home and small office networks are 100Mbit. On-board RAID is one of those nice fluff stuffs that I would never use. All pre-built PCs come with Norton Antivirus installed. (As well as a lot of other software that has earned the title “crapware”. Look for a free utility called “decrapify” to remove most of it before it can pollute your PC.) Never use Norton on an editing PC. Norton is a recess hog and degrades your PC performance. Microsoft Security Essentials is a far superior solution.

I would likely start with this:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.591995

By the time I add a case, power supply, disk drives and a Blu-Ray/DVD burner the total would probably be around $1200.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Stephen Millet]

Thanks for the extra info Stephen. Ill be checking out all of this before I make a purchase.

-Steve

[John Rofrano]

[Stephen Millet] “BTW are the HP computers your talking about the z400-800’s, cause i am still browsing what will be the best choice.”

Yes, the HP Z400-Z800 are excellent workstations for video editing.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[John Rofrano]

[Stephen Millet] “BTW check out this article I found on chosing the right system for your software.”

I am very familiar with the VideoGuys site and if you were to build one yourself I would highly recommend you follow one of their DIY builds. They know their stuff!

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Richard Graham]

Personally, if I was you I would check out the Nvidia GTX460 1GB – OC I believe you will find it is even better value than the GTX470.

The Gigabyte version is very good value.

I don’t use Vega, (I use Premiere Pro CS5) and Premiere can be “hacked” perfectly well to accept the 460 and its CUDA technology.

If you have a Google, you will find that in many cases the 460 O/C outperforms the 470!

Good luck!

[John Rofrano]

[Richard Graham] “If you have a Google, you will find that in many cases the 460 O/C outperforms the 470!”

So that’s overclocked. OK. I was quoting by Gary Bettan from Videoguys on Dec 9, 2010 when in this thread (Re: Check specs to build a new PC…) he said:

The GTX470 is a killer card with CS5! It’s our top value recommendation.

That was a point-in-time statement. If the 460 O/C now outperforms the 470 then that’s even better.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Stephen Millet]

wow thanks.. theres so much info out there that its a little overwhelming lol. I was thinking about getting Premiere but thought it might be overkill for me right now. im going to see where im at money wise and if its right for me and ill check it out before i buy my PC…BTW with the your Premiere are you using the NVIDIA 460 right now? if so how would your rate it?

[Richard Graham]

Yes,
I am using the GTX460 1GB-OC with Premiere at the moment, I can only compare the GTX 460 with two other 3 other cards I have used, the Asus Nvidia EN9400- 512GB, the Asus 210 – 512 and the Asus EAH5670 1 GB, and the 460 puts them all to shame.

It is an excellent card, you can apply a “fix” (not difficult) with no problems so far, that allow you to run the Mercury rendering engine that comes with Premiere.

As far as I can see, it is the best Graphics card around for the money – however, you may want to have a look at the newer 5XX range recently brought out by Nvidia, also, the EAH5670 is not a bad option for the price. (about half the cost of the 460)

The problem – for want of a better word – is there really is too much choice at the moment, a lot depends on whether you want to have SLI or other options to double up your cards, in which case I would recommend you look very carefully at your Motherboard.

Personally, I love the GTX460, it is a great card, unfortunately, I use the ASUS p55 Motherboard, which does not support an additional card from Nvidia, only ATI.

As a single graphics card, comparing performance for cost, I would rate it 9/10, you could do a lot worse than this.

Hope this helps, sometimes prices can be a bit misleading, check out comparisons between the 460, the 470 and the 480, I know which one I would buy, but like I say, the newer 5XX versions from Nvidia are just out, and may well be worth a look.

[Richard Graham]

https://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=347321

https://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=179111

I don’t think there is too much in it as far as performance goes, but where I am (we have to pay 300% import duty on a lot of this kind of stuff) it makes the 460 a winner.

The 470 is no doubt a great card, but as I say, if you are paying 300% duty, then price becomes quite a factor.

Good luck with whatever you choose, we are really spoiled for choice these days.

What I would say, if you go with the 460, 470, 480 or the newer 5XX, take a good look at your M/B and see if it is compatible to be able to double up cards, I made the mistake of selecting an M/B that can only double up ATI cards and not make use of Nvidia SLI. You win some you lose some, however, I have not really found any need to run two cards for the kind of work I do just yet.

[Richard Graham]

I forgot to add – follow this to enable the Mercury Engine in Premiere

https://blog.krama.tv/hacking-adobe-premiere-cs5-to-enable-more-nvidia-cuda-cards/